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I think I committed a Talkbass sin,

I played baritone horn (best instrument in the band for an underachiever) in high school, but played a tuba a bit as an adult in some brass chorales. I also played a lot of bass in jazz band and concert band in high school.
I played trombone in our jazz band. Some trumpet at church. My biggest learning experience was when I had to play keys in our group for 5 years. I am not a keyboard player!!
 
I started playing with Ps and PJs, but could never get the high end clarity I was looking for. A jazz got me closer, but playing a Ray was a revelation to me. I don't play rock anymore, but if I were, I'd definitely be playing some flavor of Ray.

The Sterling Ray 4 is an amazing value and has the kind of tone you can't get on a P or a J. If you like it, stick with it. There's a mind-boggling variety of stingrays available, all with different takes on the classic Ray sound.

No sin in playing what works for you.
 
The worst TB sin is selling a bass. Never, ever do that. You need one of each. And in all colors. And with flats and rounds. And a couple other things.

And then there are some freaks wandering around. I like the sound of a P sometimes, but don't like FSO ergos very much. I like Thunderbird ergos. So I built a PBird that's a Precision in all ways except shape. And I play Thunderbirds most of the time, and have an EB2, which was my only bass guitar for many years. And I don't like tort at all. Even worse, I just sold a bass guitar.

Pick your sin and go with it. Loud, proud, and wrong is a true calling.
 
I think I committed a Talkbass sin,
I don't like the sound of a P bass. Owned 2 Fender P basses, different strings, pickups, 3 different amps, angling the cab. It just does not have the sound I like. Wife said that it was muddy.
I played one at our gigs for a couple of years until I bought a active EQ bass. (another sin) I did not like it but it sound was great. Sold it, then I bought a Sterling Ray4 for $269 new as a beater because the joint we played at was pretty rough.
(here comes the next sin)
I sold the p bass, playing the Ray 4 at every gig. Thought I would try a Fender Jazz. Bought from GC, sounded good at store, played at my gig friday night. Again, not the sound I like. During the break I swapped back to the ray4, guitar player looks at me & said " I like the sound of that one better" Jazz was used, so its going back to GC.
Anyone else been down this road?
(No bashing please, just others who experienced the same thing or some humor)


Did you try changing strings around? Your strings impact the sound of a bass more than anything.
 
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Nah, not a sin. The heresy is actually true: the P bass isn't always the right tool for every job. There are other basses that do everything in the range of better to much, much better than a P bass for certain tasks.

Eg. certain types of funk, it just don't work as good as an L2000 soloing the bridge PU, or the Tony Franklin soloing its bridge PU. The humble L2000 can even sound better in those contexts than a Jazz bass in the trite & overused "Jaco" setting (also soloing the bridge PU). Or certain types of hard rock and quite a few other contexts I can think of. I muchly prefer the L2000 on quite a few things. Or the Tony Franklin soloing the bridge PU like I mentioned which is definitely not P bass, etc...

Sometimes you need the Rickenbacker 4003 and no FSO will work for what you're trying to do.

So I'll be on the stake next to you getting burned for that heresy, but it's the truth.....

L
 
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No sin in my book.

I never found two PBs, or JBs for
that matter, that ever sounded or played exactly the same. It's just the way they are. You usually need to try a number of them before you find that special one that works and speaks to you.

I wasn't super big on PBs originally. I respected them for what they were and could do in a mix. But it wasn't my sort of sound. I was more inclined towards the JB when it came to FSOs. So I'd buy a PB when I needed one for a band or project. But I never kept them long once I didn't. Bought my first PB back in '81. Owned nine of them over the years. It wasn't until 2014 that I found my first keeper. Then by sheer luck a second (different sounding) one came along a year later.

Now I have two keepers. One rocking tapewounds and the other flats.

I'm late to the PB party. But I finally made it. ;):thumbsup:
 
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It's a quality establishment around here. We aim to please.
I like your username because here jail is spelled gaol. Not that I'd know anything about that; I learned young to bury the bodies deep.

Bagpipes - no there is SIN if I ever heard it !!!
When you die and you get to heaven Bon Scott is going to b!tchslap you so hard for that.
 
I love the Precision tone and the Jazz tone ( both pups and tone at 100% or flat on my active bass). I have two such basses.

Neither of those are Fenders. And the only place I look to for the definition of sin doesn't mention anything at all about that….:D
 
Sometimes people forget that they are tools for the music YOU want to make. I'm the same with P basses, they sound good, it's just not MY sound.

I'm even so chill about it I'll ignore that J-bass slander ;)
 
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I only have one P... kinda...

18-D2842-B-BA36-4-B7-B-8940-4-ED3824-F2-FC6.jpg
 
I think I committed a Talkbass sin,
I don't like the sound of a P bass. Owned 2 Fender P basses, different strings, pickups, 3 different amps, angling the cab. It just does not have the sound I like. Wife said that it was muddy.
I played one at our gigs for a couple of years until I bought a active EQ bass. (another sin) I did not like it but it sound was great. Sold it, then I bought a Sterling Ray4 for $269 new as a beater because the joint we played at was pretty rough.
(here comes the next sin)
I sold the p bass, playing the Ray 4 at every gig. Thought I would try a Fender Jazz. Bought from GC, sounded good at store, played at my gig friday night. Again, not the sound I like. During the break I swapped back to the ray4, guitar player looks at me & said " I like the sound of that one better" Jazz was used, so its going back to GC.
Anyone else been down this road?
(No bashing please, just others who experienced the same thing or some humor)

Had a P, had a J, had a German Corvette $$, a Status, a 1979 Musician, and sold them all because they didn't do it for me (all nice basses though!). I now play a 400€ secondhand Tribute L2K and yes, I like her much better than anything I've owned before. Play what you love, anything else is just a waste of time.
 
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